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{{Short description|Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator (1838–1930)}}
{{Spanish name|Weyler|Nicolau}}
{{family name hatnote|Weyler|Nicolau|lang=Spanish}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2018}}
{{Infobox officeholder
{{Infobox officeholder
| name = The Duke of Rubí
| name = Valeriano Weyler
| image = Valeriano Weyler bust.jpg
| honorific_prefix = [[The Most Excellent]]
| office1 = [[Governor-General of Cuba]]
| honorific_suffix = [[Grandee of Spain|GE]] [[Order of the Golden Fleece|KOGF]] [[Order of Charles III|OCIII]] [[Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand|LCSF]] [[Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild|RMOSH]]
| term1 = {{start and end date|1896|02|11|1897|10|31|df=y}}{{sfn|Navarro García|1998|pp=181–182}}
| image = Valeriano Weyler bust.jpg
| monarch1 = [[Alfonso XIII of Spain|Alfonso XIII]]
| office = 108th [[Governor-General of the Philippines]]
| predecessor1 = Sabas Marín y González
| term_start = 1888
| successor1 = [[Ramón Blanco y Erenas]]
| term_end = 1891
| office2 = [[Governor-General of the Philippines]]
| predecessor = [[Federico Lobaton]]
| term2 = {{start and end date|1888|06|05|1891|11|17|df=y}}
| successor = [[Eulogio Despujol]]
| monarch2 = Alfonso XIII
| office2 = [[Governor of Cuba]]
| monarch3 = Alfonso XIII
| term_start2 = January 17, 1896
| monarch4 = Alfonso XIII
| term_end2 = October 1897
| monarch5 = Alfonso XIII
| predecessor2 = [[Sabas Marín]]
| monarch6 = Alfonso XIII
| successor2 = [[Ramón Blanco y Erenas]]
| primeminister3 = [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]]
| office3 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of War]]
| predecessor2 = [[Emilio Terrero y Perinat]]
| term_start3 = March 6, 1901
| successor2 = [[Eulogio Despujol y Dusay]]
| term_end3 = December 6, 1902
{{collapsed infobox section begin|Other offices}}
| predecessor3 = [[Arsenio Linares y Pombo]]
| office3 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of War of Spain]]
| successor3 = [[Arsenio Linares y Pombo]]
| term3 = {{ubl|style=line-height:1.3em
| office4 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of War]]
|{{start and end date|1906|12|04|1907|01|25|df=y}};
| term_start4 = June 23, 1905
|{{resize|95%|{{hla|1906|12|04|1907|01|25}} }} }}
| term_end4 = December 1, 1905
| primeminister4 = Práxedes Mateo Sagasta
| predecessor4 = [[Vicente Martitegui]]
| successor4 = [[Agustín de Luque y Coca]]
| predecessor3 = [[Agustín de Luque y Coca]]
| successor3 = Francisco Loño y Pérez
| office5 = [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of War]]
| term4 = {{ubl|style=line-height:1.3em
| term_start5 = December 4, 1906
|{{start and end date|1905|06|23|1905|12|01|df=y}};
| term_end5 = January 25, 1907
|{{resize|95%|{{hla|1905|06|23|1905|12|01}} }} }}
| predecessor5 = [[Agustín de Luque y Coca]]
| predecessor4 = Vicente Martitegui
| successor5 = [[Francisco de Paula Loño y Pérez]]
| successor4 = Agustín de Luque y Coca
| birth_date = September 17, 1838
| term5 = {{ubl|style=line-height:1.3em
| birth_place = [[Palma, Majorca]], [[Spain]]
| death_date = {{death date and age|1930|10|20|1838|09|17|df=yes}}
|{{start and end date|1901|03|06|1902|12|06|df=y}};
|{{resize|95%|{{hla|1901|03|06|1902|12|06}} }} }}
| death_place = [[Madrid]], [[Spain]]
| primeminister5 = [[Eugenio Montero Ríos]]
| resting_place =
| predecessor5 = [[Arsenio Linares y Pombo]]
| party = [[Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)|Liberal]]
| successor5 = Arsenio Linares y Pombo
| otherparty =
| office6 = [[Ministry of the Navy (Spain)|Minister of the Navy of Spain]]
| spouse =
| term6 = {{ubl|style=line-height:1.3em
| alma_mater =
|{{start and end date|1905|10|31|1905|12|01|df=y}};
| profession =
|{{resize|95%|{{hla|1905|10|31|1905|12|01}} }} }}
| signature = <!--Military service-->
| primeminister6 = [[Eugenio Montero Ríos]]
| allegiance = [[File:Flag of Spain.svg|22x20px|border]] [[Kingdom of Spain]]
| predecessor6 = [[Miguel Villanueva y Gómez]]
| rank =
| successor6 = Víctor María Concas
| battles = [[Ten Years' War]], [[Third Carlist War]], [[Cuban War of Independence]]
{{collapsed infobox section end}}
| birth_name = Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau
| birth_date = {{birth date|1838|09|17|df=y}}
| birth_place = [[Palma de Mallorca]], [[Balearic Islands]], Spain
| death_date = {{dda|1930|10|20|1838|09|17|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Madrid]], Spain
| party = [[Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)|Liberal Party]]
| allegiance = {{flagdeco|Spain|1785}} [[Restoration (Spain)|Spain]]
|branch = [[File:Emblem of the Spanish Army.svg|22px]] [[Spanish Army]]
|branch_label = Branch
| rank = [[File:Spain-Army-OF-10.svg|17px]] [[Captain general of the Army|Captain General]]
| commands = 6th Army Corps
| military_blank1 = Wars
| military_data1 = {{bulleted list|[[Ten Years' War]]|[[Third Carlist War]]|[[Cuban War of Independence]]|[[Spanish–American War]]}}
}}
}}
'''Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife''', [[Grandee of Spain|GE]], [[Order of the Golden Fleece|KOGF]], [[Order of Charles III|OCIII]], [[Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand|LCSF]], [[Royal and Military Order of Saint Hermenegild|RMOSH]] (September 17, 1838{{snd}}October 20, 1930) was a Spanish general and colonial administrator who served as the [[Governor General]] of the [[Philippines]] and [[Cuba]]. He was noted for all the ranks and titles achieved.<ref name=span-am>{{cite web|last=Austin|first=Heather|title=The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau|url=http://www.spanamwar.com/Weyler.htm|accessdate=22 December 2012}}</ref>


[[Captain general of the Army|Captain General]] '''Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife''' (17{{nbsp}}September 1838{{snd}}20{{nbsp}}October 1930) was a [[Spanish Army]] officer and colonial administrator who served as the [[Governor-General of the Philippines]] and the [[Governor-General of Cuba]],<ref name=span-am>{{cite web|last=Austin|first=Heather|title=The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau|url=http://www.spanamwar.com/Weyler.htm|access-date=22 December 2012}}</ref> and later as the Minister for War.
==Early life and career==
Weyler was born in 1838 at [[Palma, Majorca]], Spain. His distant paternal ancestors were originally [[Prussia]]ns and served in the Spanish army for several generations.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano|volume=28|page=567}}</ref> He was educated in his place of birth and in [[Granada]].<ref name=loc>{{cite web|title=General Valeriano Weyler, Library of Congress|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/weyler.html|accessdate=19 December 2012}}</ref> Weyler decided to enter the Spanish army, being influenced by his father, a military doctor.


== Early life and career ==
He graduated from the Infantry School of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] at the age of 16.<ref name=loc/> At 20, Weyler had achieved the rank of lieutenant,<ref name=loc/> and he was appointed the rank of captain in 1861.<ref name=biografias>{{cite web|title=Valeriano Weyler and Nicolau|url=http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/enwiki/w/weyler.htm|accessdate=19 December 2012}}</ref> In 1863, he was transferred to Cuba, and his participation in the campaign of Santo Domingo earned him the [[Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand]].<ref name=biografias/> During the [[Ten Years' War]] that was fought between 1868 and 1878, he served as a colonel<ref name=biografias/> under General [[Arsenio Martínez-Campos y Antón]], but he returned to Spain before the end of the war to fight against [[Carlists]] in the [[Third Carlist War]] in 1873.<ref name=span-am/> In 1878, he was made general.<ref name=loc/>
Weyler was born in 1838 in [[Palma de Mallorca]], Spain. His distant paternal ancestors were originally [[Prussia]]ns and served in the Spanish army for several generations.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano|volume=28|page=567}}</ref> He was educated in his place of birth and in [[Granada]].<ref name=loc>{{cite web|title=General Valeriano Weyler, Library of Congress|website=[[Library of Congress]] |url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/weyler.html|access-date=19 December 2012}}</ref> Weyler decided to enter the Spanish army, being influenced by his father, a military doctor.


He graduated from the Infantry School of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] at the age of 16.<ref name=loc/> At 20, Weyler had achieved the rank of lieutenant,<ref name=loc/> and he was appointed the rank of captain in 1861.<ref name=biografias>{{cite web|title=Valeriano Weyler and Nicolau|url=http://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/enwiki/w/weyler.htm|access-date=19 December 2012}}</ref> In 1863, he was transferred to Cuba, and his participation in the campaign of Santo Domingo earned him the [[Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand]].<ref name=biografias/> During the [[Ten Years' War]] that was fought between 1868 and 1878, he served as a colonel<ref name=biografias/> under General [[Arsenio Martínez Campos]], but he returned to Spain before the end of the war to fight against [[Carlists]] in the [[Third Carlist War]] in 1873.<ref name=span-am/> In 1878, he was made general.<ref name=loc/>
==Canary Islands and Philippines==
From 1878 to 1883, Weyler served as captain-general of [[Canary Islands]]. In 1888, Weyler was made [[Governor General]] of the [[Philippines]].<ref name=span-am/> Weyler granted the petitions of 20 young women of [[Malolos]], [[Bulacan]], to receive education and to have a night school. The women became known as the Women of Malolos. The original petition was denied by the parish priest of Malolos, who argued that women should always stay at home and take care of the family.


== Canary Islands and Philippines ==
Weyler happened to visit Malolos afterward and granted the petition on account of the persistence the women displayed for their petition. [[José Rizal]] wrote a letter to the women, upon request by [[Marcelo H. del Pilar]], praising their initiative and sensibility on their high hopes for women's education and progress. In 1895, he earned the [[Maria Christina of Austria|Grand Cross of Maria Christina]] for his command of troops in the Philippines<ref name=span-am/> in which he fought an uprising of Tagalogs<ref name=vwp>{{cite web|title=Valeriano Weyler Papers|url=http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/Weyler/MSS19700006.html|accessdate=25 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806155437/http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/Weyler/MSS19700006.html|archive-date=6 August 2012|dead-url=yes|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and conducted an offensive against the Moros in Mindanao.
From 1878 to 1883, Weyler served as Captain-General of [[Canary Islands]]. In 1888, Weyler was made [[Governor-General of the Philippines]].<ref name=span-am/> Weyler granted the petitions of 20 young women of [[Malolos]], [[Bulacan]], to receive education and to have a night school. The women became known as the Women of Malolos. The original petition was denied by the parish priest of Malolos, who argued that women should always stay at home and take care of the family.

Weyler happened to visit Malolos afterward and granted the petition on account of the persistence the women displayed for their petition. [[José Rizal]] wrote a letter to the women, upon request by [[Marcelo H. del Pilar]], praising their initiative and sensibility on their high hopes for women's education and progress. In 1895, he earned the [[Maria Christina of Austria|Grand Cross of Maria Christina]] for his command of troops in the Philippines<ref name=span-am/> in which he fought an uprising of Tagalogs<ref name=vwp>{{cite web|title=Valeriano Weyler Papers|url=http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/Weyler/MSS19700006.html|access-date=25 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120806155437/http://doddcenter.uconn.edu/asc/findaids/Weyler/MSS19700006.html|archive-date=6 August 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}}</ref> and conducted an offensive against the Moros in Mindanao.


==Spain==
==Spain==
Line 61: Line 78:


==Cuba==
==Cuba==
[[File:Weyler reconcentrados.png|thumb|Victims of Weyler's [[reconcentration policy]]]]
After [[Arsenio Martínez Campos]] had failed to pacify the [[Spanish–American War#Cuban struggle for independence|Cuban rebellion]], the Conservative government of [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] sent Weyler out to replace him. That met the approval of most Spaniards, who thought him the proper man to crush the rebellion.<ref name="EB1911"/>


After [[Arsenio Martínez Campos]] proved unable to defeat the [[Cuban Liberation Army]], the government of [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] sent Weyler to Cuba to replace him. This decision met the approval of the Spanish public, who perceived Weyler as the right man to suppress the [[Cuban War of Independence|rebellion in Cuba]]. Weyler was made [[Governor-General of Cuba]] and was granted full powers to suppress the rebellion and restore Spanish rule alongside Cuba's sugar industry. Initially, he was frustrated by the same factors which had stymied his predecessors; while Spanish troops were trained in [[conventional warfare]] tactics and required substantial supplies to operate, their Cuban opponents engaged in [[hit-and-run tactics]], [[Woodcraft|lived off the land]] and blended in with the general population to avoid detection.<ref name="EB1911"/>
He was made [[governor]] of Cuba with full powers to suppress the insurgency (rebellion was widespread in Cuba) and restore the island to political order and its sugar production to greater profitability. Initially, Weyler was greatly frustrated by the same factors that had made victory difficult for all generals of traditional standing armies fighting against an insurgency.


Weyler responded by implementing the [[reconcentration policy]], which was intended to separate the rebels from the civilian Cuban populace by confining the latter to [[concentration camp]]s guarded by Spanish troops. Under the policy, rural Cubans had eight days to relocate to concentration camps in fortified towns, and all who failed to do so were to be shot. The quality of the camps was abysmal, with the housing being in poor condition and the camp rations insufficient and of poor quality; disease also quickly spread through the camps. By the end of 1897, Weyler and his troops had divided Cuba into different sectors and forced more than 300,000 Cubans into the camps. Spanish forces also destroyed crops and drove away livestock as part of a [[scorched earth]] strategy to make the Cuban countryside inhospitable to the insurgents.<ref>{{cite web |title=February, 1896: Reconcentration Policy |url=http://www.pbs.org/crucible/tl4.html |website=[[PBS]] |access-date=25 January 2020}}</ref>
While the Spanish troops marched in regulation and required substantial supplies, their opponents practiced hit-and-run tactics, lived off the land, and blended in with the noncombatant population. He came to the same conclusions as his predecessors as well: to win Cuba back for Spain, he would have to separate the rebels from the civilians by putting the latter in safe havens, protected by loyal Spanish troops. By the end of 1897, General Weyler had divided the long island of Cuba in different sectors and relocated more than 300,000 into areas nearby cities. Weyler learned that tactic from studying General [[William Tecumseh Sherman]]'s campaign<ref>{{cite book |last1=Cardona |first1=Gabriel |last2=Losada |first2=Juan Carlos |title=Weyler, nuestro hombre en La Habana |year=1988 |publisher=Planeta |location=Barcelona, Spain |isbn=84-08-02327-6 | pages=34–35}}</ref> while he was assigned to the post of military attaché in the Spanish embassy in Washington D.C.<ref name=thinkquest>{{cite web|title=valeriano weyler (1838–1930)|url=http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/valeriano_weyler.html|accessdate=25 December 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130302123610/http://library.thinkquest.org/18355/valeriano_weyler.html|archive-date=2 March 2013|dead-url=yes|df=dmy-all}}</ref> {{Disputed-section|date=July 2018}} However, anti-Spanish propaganda mistakenly believed him to be the origin of the tactic after it was later used by the British during the [[Second Boer War]]. The term later evolved into a designation to describe the [[concentration camps]] of the 20th-century regimes of Hitler and Stalin. Although he was successful in moving vast numbers of people, the guerrilla strategies<ref>sitation needed</ref> prevented them from being provided adequately.<ref>https://www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/weyler.html</ref>


The reconcentration policy weakened the rebel position but resulted in the deaths of between 170,000 and 400,000 Cubans, causing widespread international outrage, particularly in the [[United States]], where Weyler became known as "The Butcher".<ref>[http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/1898/Salt-Lake-Tribune-4-5-1898-3.png "The Butcher of Cuba"], "The Salt Lake Tribune", April 5, 1898</ref> This wave of American [[anti-Spanish sentiment]] contributed to the [[United States declaration of war on Spain]] in 1898. Castillo's government supported Weyler's tactics wholeheartedly, but the [[Liberal Party (Spain, 1880)|Liberal Party]] vigorously denounced them for their toll on the Cuban people.<ref name="Pitzer">{{cite web |last1=Pitzer |first1=Andrea |title=Concentration Camps Existed Long Before Auschwitz |url=https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/concentration-camps-existed-long-before-Auschwitz-180967049/ |website=Smithsonian Magazine |access-date=25 January 2020 |language=en |date=2 November 2017|author-link=Andrea Pitzer}}</ref><ref name="Codman">{{cite book|last1=Storey|first1=Moorfield|author-link=Moorfield Storey|last2=Codman|first2=Julian|author2-link=Julian Codman|title=Secretary Root's record. "Marked severities" in Philippine warfare. An analysis of the law and facts bearing on the action and utterances of President Roosevelt and Secretary Root|publisher=George H. Ellis Company|location=Boston|year=1902|url=https://archive.org/stream/secretaryrootsr00codmgoog#page/n8/mode/2up|pages=89–95}} The author compares McKinley's appalled answer to Cuban camps with Root's justification of Philippine camps.</ref> The term "reconcentration" is thought to have given rise to the term "concentration camp". Academic Andrea Pitzer considered Weyler's camps to be the world's first concentration camps.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/on-anniversary-of-auschwitz-liberation-writer-calls-attention-to-modern-day-concentration-camps-1.5442253|title=On anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, writer calls attention to modern-day concentration camps|date=27 January 2020|work=The Current|access-date=28 January 2020|publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]]}}</ref> Weyler's strategy was successful only in completely alienating the Cuban populace from the Spanish as well as galvanizing international opinion against Spain. After Castillo was assassinated on 8 August 1897 and a new Liberal Party ministry led by [[Práxedes Mateo Sagasta]] took over, Weyler was recalled from Cuba and replaced by the more conciliatory [[Ramón Blanco, 1st Marquess of Peña Plata]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Heraclides |first=Alexis |author-link=Alexis Heraclides |title=Humanitarian Intervention in the Long Nineteenth Century: Setting the Precedent |last2=Dialla |first2=Ada |publisher=Manchester University Press |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-7190-8990-9 |pages=204 |chapter=10 The US and Cuba, 1895–98 |doi=10.2307/j.ctt1mf71b8.15 |jstor=j.ctt1mf71b8.15}}</ref>
Weyler's policy had another important effect. While it made his military objectives easier to accomplish, it had devastating political consequences. The Spanish Conservative government supported Weyler's tactics wholeheartedly, but the Liberals denounced them vigorously for their toll on the Cuban rebels. In the propaganda war waged in the United States, Cuban émigrés made much of Weyler's inhumanity to their countrymen and won the sympathy of broad groups of the US population to their cause.

Weyler's strategy had been successful but the rebellion in the Philippines that required the redeployment of some troops already in Cuba in 1897, it could not be accomplished. When Prime Minister [[Antonio Cánovas del Castillo]] was assassinated in June, Weyler lost his principal supporter in Spain. He was replaced in Cuba by the more conciliatory [[Ramón Blanco y Erenas]].


==Return to Spain==
==Return to Spain==
He served as Minister of War three separate times (1901–1902, 1905, 1906–1907).<ref name=loc/>
He served as [[Ministry of Defence (Spain)|Minister of War]] three separate times (1901–1902, 1905, 1906–1907)<ref name=loc/> and as [[Chief of Staff of the Army (Spain)|Chief of Staff of the Army]] in two separate terms (1916–1922, 1923–1925).


After his return to Spain, Weyler's reputation as a strong and ambitious soldier made him one of those who, in case of any constitutional disturbance, might be expected to play an important role, and his political position was nationally affected by this consideration; his appointment in 1900 as captain-general of [[Madrid]] resulted indeed in great success in the defense of the constitutional order. He was minister of war for a short time at the end of 1901, and again in 1905. At the end of October 1909, he was appointed captain-general at Barcelona, where the disturbances connected with the execution of [[Francisco Ferrer Guardia|Francisco Ferrer]] were quelled by him without bloodshed.<ref name="EB1911"/>
After his return to Spain, Weyler's reputation as a strong and ambitious soldier made him one of those who, in case of any constitutional disturbance, might be expected to play an important role, and his political position was nationally affected by this consideration; his appointment in 1900 as captain-general of [[Madrid]] resulted indeed in great success in the defense of the constitutional order. He was minister of war for a short time at the end of 1901, and again in 1905. At the end of October 1909, he was appointed captain-general at Barcelona, where the disturbances connected with the execution of [[Francisco Ferrer Guardia|Francisco Ferrer]] were quelled by him without bloodshed.<ref name="EB1911"/>
Line 78: Line 93:
Valeriano Weyler, the Marquess of Tenerife, was made Duke of Rubí and Grandee of Spain by royal decree in 1920.<ref>[[Gaceta de Madrid]] [https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1920/190/A00098-00098.pdf no. 190, 8 July 1920, p. 98]</ref>
Valeriano Weyler, the Marquess of Tenerife, was made Duke of Rubí and Grandee of Spain by royal decree in 1920.<ref>[[Gaceta de Madrid]] [https://www.boe.es/datos/pdfs/BOE//1920/190/A00098-00098.pdf no. 190, 8 July 1920, p. 98]</ref>


He was charged and imprisoned for opposing the military dictator [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]] in the 1920s. He died in Madrid on 20 October 1930. He was buried the next day in a simple casket without state ceremony, as he himself requested.
He was charged and imprisoned for opposing the military dictator [[Miguel Primo de Rivera]] in the 1920s. He died in Madrid on 20 October 1930. He was buried the next day in a simple casket without state ceremony, as he himself requested.{{citation needed|date=January 2020}}


==References==
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{reflist|30em}}


==Sources==
{{s-start}}
*{{cite journal
{{succession box | before = [[Federico Lobaton]]| title = [[Governor-General of the Philippines]]| years = 1888–1891 | after = [[Eulogio Despujol]]}}
|last = Navarro García
{{succession box | before = [[Sabas Marín]]| title = [[Governor of Cuba]]| years = 1896–1897 | after = [[Ramón Blanco y Erenas]]}}
|first = L.
{{succession box | before = none | title = Chief of staff of the Spanish Army | years = 1916–1922 | after = [[Luis Azipuru y Mondéjar]]}}
|year = 1998
{{s-end}}
|title = 1898, la incierta victoria de Cuba
|url = http://estudiosamericanos.revistas.csic.es/index.php/estudiosamericanos/article/view/370/376
|journal = Anuario de Estudios Americanos
|publisher = [[University of Sevilla]]
|volume = 55
|issue = 1
|pages = 165–187
|doi = 10.3989/aeamer.1998.v55.i1.370
|doi-access= free
}}


{{S-start}}
{{Spanish Governors-General of the Philippines}}
{{S-reg|es}}
{{S-new|creation}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[Duke of Rubí]]|years=1920–1930}}
{{S-aft|after=Fernando Weyler}}
{{S-end}}

{{Spanish Governors-General of the Philippines|state=collapsed}}
{{Authority control}}
{{Authority control}}


{{DEFAULTSORT:Weyler, Valeriano}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weyler, Valeriano}}
[[Category:Dukes of Rubí|101]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Spain]]
[[Category:Spanish generals]]
[[Category:Spanish military personnel of the Spanish–American War]]
[[Category:Governors of Cuba]]
[[Category:Captains General of the Philippines]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1838 births]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category:1930 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Palma, Majorca]]
[[Category:Captains general of the Philippines]]
[[Category:Dukes of Rubí|101]]
[[Category:Governors of Cuba]]
[[Category:Grandees of Spain]]
[[Category:Grandees of Spain]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Fleece of Spain]]
[[Category:Marquesses of Spain]]
[[Category:People from Palma de Mallorca]]
[[Category:People of the Dominican Restoration War]]
[[Category:People of the Ten Years' War]]
[[Category:People of the Ten Years' War]]
[[Category:People of the Cuban War of Independence]]
[[Category:Spanish anti-communists]]
[[Category:Spanish lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Spanish mass murderers]]
[[Category:Spanish military personnel of the Spanish–American War]]
[[Category:Spanish people of German descent]]
[[Category:Spanish people of German descent]]
[[Category:Spanish war criminals]]

Latest revision as of 16:52, 10 December 2024

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Weyler and the second or maternal family name is Nicolau.

Valeriano Weyler
Governor-General of Cuba
In office
11 February 1896 – 31 October 1897 (1896-02-11 – 1897-10-31)[1]
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Preceded bySabas Marín y González
Succeeded byRamón Blanco y Erenas
Governor-General of the Philippines
In office
5 June 1888 – 17 November 1891 (1888-06-05 – 1891-11-17)
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Preceded byEmilio Terrero y Perinat
Succeeded byEulogio Despujol y Dusay
Other offices
Minister of War of Spain
In office
  • 4 December 1906 – 25 January 1907 (1906-12-04 – 1907-01-25);
  • 1 month and 21 days
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Prime MinisterPráxedes Mateo Sagasta
Preceded byAgustín de Luque y Coca
Succeeded byFrancisco Loño y Pérez
In office
  • 23 June – 1 December 1905 (1905-06-23 – 1905-12-01);
  • 5 months and 8 days
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Prime MinisterPráxedes Mateo Sagasta
Preceded byVicente Martitegui
Succeeded byAgustín de Luque y Coca
In office
  • 6 March 1901 – 6 December 1902 (1901-03-06 – 1902-12-06);
  • 1 year and 9 months
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Prime MinisterEugenio Montero Ríos
Preceded byArsenio Linares y Pombo
Succeeded byArsenio Linares y Pombo
Minister of the Navy of Spain
In office
  • 31 October – 1 December 1905 (1905-10-31 – 1905-12-01);
  • 1 month and 1 day
MonarchAlfonso XIII
Prime MinisterEugenio Montero Ríos
Preceded byMiguel Villanueva y Gómez
Succeeded byVíctor María Concas
Personal details
Born
Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau

(1838-09-17)17 September 1838
Palma de Mallorca, Balearic Islands, Spain
Died20 October 1930(1930-10-20) (aged 92)
Madrid, Spain
Political partyLiberal Party
Military service
Allegiance Spain
Branch Spanish Army
Rank Captain General
Commands6th Army Corps
Wars

Captain General Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau, 1st Duke of Rubí, 1st Marquess of Tenerife (17 September 1838 – 20 October 1930) was a Spanish Army officer and colonial administrator who served as the Governor-General of the Philippines and the Governor-General of Cuba,[2] and later as the Minister for War.

Early life and career

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Weyler was born in 1838 in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. His distant paternal ancestors were originally Prussians and served in the Spanish army for several generations.[3] He was educated in his place of birth and in Granada.[4] Weyler decided to enter the Spanish army, being influenced by his father, a military doctor.

He graduated from the Infantry School of Toledo at the age of 16.[4] At 20, Weyler had achieved the rank of lieutenant,[4] and he was appointed the rank of captain in 1861.[5] In 1863, he was transferred to Cuba, and his participation in the campaign of Santo Domingo earned him the Laureate Cross of Saint Ferdinand.[5] During the Ten Years' War that was fought between 1868 and 1878, he served as a colonel[5] under General Arsenio Martínez Campos, but he returned to Spain before the end of the war to fight against Carlists in the Third Carlist War in 1873.[2] In 1878, he was made general.[4]

Canary Islands and Philippines

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From 1878 to 1883, Weyler served as Captain-General of Canary Islands. In 1888, Weyler was made Governor-General of the Philippines.[2] Weyler granted the petitions of 20 young women of Malolos, Bulacan, to receive education and to have a night school. The women became known as the Women of Malolos. The original petition was denied by the parish priest of Malolos, who argued that women should always stay at home and take care of the family.

Weyler happened to visit Malolos afterward and granted the petition on account of the persistence the women displayed for their petition. José Rizal wrote a letter to the women, upon request by Marcelo H. del Pilar, praising their initiative and sensibility on their high hopes for women's education and progress. In 1895, he earned the Grand Cross of Maria Christina for his command of troops in the Philippines[2] in which he fought an uprising of Tagalogs[6] and conducted an offensive against the Moros in Mindanao.

Spain

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On his return to Spain in 1892, he was appointed to command the 6th Army Corps in the Basque Provinces and Navarre, where he soon quelled agitations. He was then made captain-general at Barcelona, where he remained until January 1896. In Catalonia, with a state of siege, he made himself the terror of the anarchists and communists.[3]

Cuba

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Victims of Weyler's reconcentration policy

After Arsenio Martínez Campos proved unable to defeat the Cuban Liberation Army, the government of Antonio Cánovas del Castillo sent Weyler to Cuba to replace him. This decision met the approval of the Spanish public, who perceived Weyler as the right man to suppress the rebellion in Cuba. Weyler was made Governor-General of Cuba and was granted full powers to suppress the rebellion and restore Spanish rule alongside Cuba's sugar industry. Initially, he was frustrated by the same factors which had stymied his predecessors; while Spanish troops were trained in conventional warfare tactics and required substantial supplies to operate, their Cuban opponents engaged in hit-and-run tactics, lived off the land and blended in with the general population to avoid detection.[3]

Weyler responded by implementing the reconcentration policy, which was intended to separate the rebels from the civilian Cuban populace by confining the latter to concentration camps guarded by Spanish troops. Under the policy, rural Cubans had eight days to relocate to concentration camps in fortified towns, and all who failed to do so were to be shot. The quality of the camps was abysmal, with the housing being in poor condition and the camp rations insufficient and of poor quality; disease also quickly spread through the camps. By the end of 1897, Weyler and his troops had divided Cuba into different sectors and forced more than 300,000 Cubans into the camps. Spanish forces also destroyed crops and drove away livestock as part of a scorched earth strategy to make the Cuban countryside inhospitable to the insurgents.[7]

The reconcentration policy weakened the rebel position but resulted in the deaths of between 170,000 and 400,000 Cubans, causing widespread international outrage, particularly in the United States, where Weyler became known as "The Butcher".[8] This wave of American anti-Spanish sentiment contributed to the United States declaration of war on Spain in 1898. Castillo's government supported Weyler's tactics wholeheartedly, but the Liberal Party vigorously denounced them for their toll on the Cuban people.[9][10] The term "reconcentration" is thought to have given rise to the term "concentration camp". Academic Andrea Pitzer considered Weyler's camps to be the world's first concentration camps.[11] Weyler's strategy was successful only in completely alienating the Cuban populace from the Spanish as well as galvanizing international opinion against Spain. After Castillo was assassinated on 8 August 1897 and a new Liberal Party ministry led by Práxedes Mateo Sagasta took over, Weyler was recalled from Cuba and replaced by the more conciliatory Ramón Blanco, 1st Marquess of Peña Plata.[12]

Return to Spain

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He served as Minister of War three separate times (1901–1902, 1905, 1906–1907)[4] and as Chief of Staff of the Army in two separate terms (1916–1922, 1923–1925).

After his return to Spain, Weyler's reputation as a strong and ambitious soldier made him one of those who, in case of any constitutional disturbance, might be expected to play an important role, and his political position was nationally affected by this consideration; his appointment in 1900 as captain-general of Madrid resulted indeed in great success in the defense of the constitutional order. He was minister of war for a short time at the end of 1901, and again in 1905. At the end of October 1909, he was appointed captain-general at Barcelona, where the disturbances connected with the execution of Francisco Ferrer were quelled by him without bloodshed.[3]

Valeriano Weyler, the Marquess of Tenerife, was made Duke of Rubí and Grandee of Spain by royal decree in 1920.[13]

He was charged and imprisoned for opposing the military dictator Miguel Primo de Rivera in the 1920s. He died in Madrid on 20 October 1930. He was buried the next day in a simple casket without state ceremony, as he himself requested.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ Navarro García 1998, pp. 181–182.
  2. ^ a b c d Austin, Heather. "The Spanish–American War Centennial Website: Valeriano Weyler y Nicolau". Retrieved 22 December 2012.
  3. ^ a b c d  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Weyler y Nicolau, Valeriano". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 28 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 567.
  4. ^ a b c d e "General Valeriano Weyler, Library of Congress". Library of Congress. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  5. ^ a b c "Valeriano Weyler and Nicolau". Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  6. ^ "Valeriano Weyler Papers". Archived from the original on 6 August 2012. Retrieved 25 December 2012.
  7. ^ "February, 1896: Reconcentration Policy". PBS. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  8. ^ "The Butcher of Cuba", "The Salt Lake Tribune", April 5, 1898
  9. ^ Pitzer, Andrea (2 November 2017). "Concentration Camps Existed Long Before Auschwitz". Smithsonian Magazine. Retrieved 25 January 2020.
  10. ^ Storey, Moorfield; Codman, Julian (1902). Secretary Root's record. "Marked severities" in Philippine warfare. An analysis of the law and facts bearing on the action and utterances of President Roosevelt and Secretary Root. Boston: George H. Ellis Company. pp. 89–95. The author compares McKinley's appalled answer to Cuban camps with Root's justification of Philippine camps.
  11. ^ "On anniversary of Auschwitz liberation, writer calls attention to modern-day concentration camps". The Current. Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. 27 January 2020. Retrieved 28 January 2020.
  12. ^ Heraclides, Alexis; Dialla, Ada (2015). "10 The US and Cuba, 1895–98". Humanitarian Intervention in the Long Nineteenth Century: Setting the Precedent. Manchester University Press. p. 204. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1mf71b8.15. ISBN 978-0-7190-8990-9. JSTOR j.ctt1mf71b8.15.
  13. ^ Gaceta de Madrid no. 190, 8 July 1920, p. 98

Sources

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Spanish nobility
New creation Duke of Rubí
1920–1930 		Succeeded by
Fernando Weyler
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